Gaz de France
Encyclopedia
Gaz de France was a French company which produced, transported and sold natural gas
around the world, especially in France, its main market. The company was also particularly active in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other European countries. Through its part-owned Belgian subsidiary
SPE it was also involved in nuclear power generation
. The company conducted a merger of equals with fellow utility
company Suez on 22 July 2008 to form GDF Suez
. Its head office was located in the 17th arrondissement of Paris
.
(EDF) in 1946 by the French Government
. After the liberalisation of Europe’s energy markets, Gaz de France also entered into the electricity
sector, having developed combined natural gas-electricity offerings.
With part-privatisation EDF and Gaz de France latterly became two totally separate entities, with each controlling a distribution subsidiary responsible for running its distribution system. For Gaz de France, this was the Gaz de France Distributor. Together, these two distributors managed a joint department, “EDF Gaz de France Distribution” formerly called “EDF GDF Services, which was responsible for field-based activities (meter reading, activating connections, engineering work, etc.). In January 2008 EDF Gaz de France Distribution was split into two entities: ErDF (Électricité réseau distribution France), 100% owned by EDF, and GrDF (Gaz réseau distribution France), wholly owned by Gaz de France (and now by GDF Suez).
The company's capital was partially floated
on the Paris Stock Exchange
in July 2005, raising €2.5 billion for the French Government
. The government continued to hold an approximate 80% stake in the company until the 2008 merger with Suez. The French state now holds approximately 35.7% of GDF Suez.
announced the merger
of Suez and GDF, which would make the world's largest liquefied natural gas
company. Since the French state owned over 80% of Gaz de France, it was necessary to pass a new law in order to make the merger possible. The merger was overseen by R N Rothschild & Sons Investment Bank.
On 3 September 2007, Gaz de France and Suez announced agreed terms of merger, on the basis of an exchange of 21 Gaz de France shares for 22 Suez shares via the absorption of Suez by Gaz de France. The French state would hold more than 35% of shares of the merged company, GDF Suez.
Whilst Nicolas Sarkozy
was for several months opposed to the Villepin government’s plans for a merger of the two companies, he subsequently accepted the government proposal. This plan for a merger between Gaz de France and Suez came under fire from the whole of the political left, which feared the loss of one of the last ways of preventing the price rises experienced over the previous three years, and by the social Gaullist
s and trade union
s. In retaliation, the opposition submitted 137,449 amendments to the plan. Under normal parliamentary procedure, parliament would have been required to vote on the amendments, which would have taken 10 years. The French Constitution does give the government options to bypass such a filibuster
, but in the end these were not used.
Law No. 2006-1537 of December 7, 2006 on the energy sector authorised the privatisation
of Gaz de France. On September 2, 2007, the boards of directors of Gaz de France and Suez approved the new framework for the planned merger between the companies. The newly created company, GDF Suez
, came into existence on 22 July 2008; the world's second-largest utility
and a group of €74 billion of revenues.
. The company took possession of the building, built in the late 1950s, in the early 1960s.
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
around the world, especially in France, its main market. The company was also particularly active in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other European countries. Through its part-owned Belgian subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
SPE it was also involved in nuclear power generation
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
. The company conducted a merger of equals with fellow utility
Public utility
A public utility is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service . Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state-wide government monopolies...
company Suez on 22 July 2008 to form GDF Suez
GDF Suez
GDF Suez S.A. is a French multinational energy company which operates in the fields of electricity generation and distribution, natural gas and renewable energy. The world's largest utility after taking control of Britain's International Power, the company was initially formed by the merger of Gaz...
. Its head office was located in the 17th arrondissement of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
History
Gaz de France was created with its sister company Électricité de FranceÉlectricité de France
Électricité de France S.A. is the second largest French utility company. Headquartered in Paris, France, with €65.2 billion in revenues in 2010, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.EDF is one of...
(EDF) in 1946 by the French Government
Government of France
The government of the French Republic is a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an "indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic"...
. After the liberalisation of Europe’s energy markets, Gaz de France also entered into the electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
sector, having developed combined natural gas-electricity offerings.
With part-privatisation EDF and Gaz de France latterly became two totally separate entities, with each controlling a distribution subsidiary responsible for running its distribution system. For Gaz de France, this was the Gaz de France Distributor. Together, these two distributors managed a joint department, “EDF Gaz de France Distribution” formerly called “EDF GDF Services, which was responsible for field-based activities (meter reading, activating connections, engineering work, etc.). In January 2008 EDF Gaz de France Distribution was split into two entities: ErDF (Électricité réseau distribution France), 100% owned by EDF, and GrDF (Gaz réseau distribution France), wholly owned by Gaz de France (and now by GDF Suez).
The company's capital was partially floated
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
on the Paris Stock Exchange
Euronext Paris
Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV, which is the second largest exchange in Europe behind the UK's London Stock Exchange...
in July 2005, raising €2.5 billion for the French Government
Government of France
The government of the French Republic is a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an "indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic"...
. The government continued to hold an approximate 80% stake in the company until the 2008 merger with Suez. The French state now holds approximately 35.7% of GDF Suez.
Merger with Suez
On February 25, 2006, French Prime minister Dominique de VillepinDominique de Villepin
Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin is a French politician who served as the Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007....
announced the merger
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
of Suez and GDF, which would make the world's largest liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport....
company. Since the French state owned over 80% of Gaz de France, it was necessary to pass a new law in order to make the merger possible. The merger was overseen by R N Rothschild & Sons Investment Bank.
On 3 September 2007, Gaz de France and Suez announced agreed terms of merger, on the basis of an exchange of 21 Gaz de France shares for 22 Suez shares via the absorption of Suez by Gaz de France. The French state would hold more than 35% of shares of the merged company, GDF Suez.
Whilst Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
was for several months opposed to the Villepin government’s plans for a merger of the two companies, he subsequently accepted the government proposal. This plan for a merger between Gaz de France and Suez came under fire from the whole of the political left, which feared the loss of one of the last ways of preventing the price rises experienced over the previous three years, and by the social Gaullist
Gaullism
Gaullism is a French political ideology based on the thought and action of Resistance leader then president Charles de Gaulle.-Foreign policy:...
s and trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s. In retaliation, the opposition submitted 137,449 amendments to the plan. Under normal parliamentary procedure, parliament would have been required to vote on the amendments, which would have taken 10 years. The French Constitution does give the government options to bypass such a filibuster
Filibuster
A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...
, but in the end these were not used.
Law No. 2006-1537 of December 7, 2006 on the energy sector authorised the privatisation
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
of Gaz de France. On September 2, 2007, the boards of directors of Gaz de France and Suez approved the new framework for the planned merger between the companies. The newly created company, GDF Suez
GDF Suez
GDF Suez S.A. is a French multinational energy company which operates in the fields of electricity generation and distribution, natural gas and renewable energy. The world's largest utility after taking control of Britain's International Power, the company was initially formed by the merger of Gaz...
, came into existence on 22 July 2008; the world's second-largest utility
Public utility
A public utility is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service . Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state-wide government monopolies...
and a group of €74 billion of revenues.
Former heads of the company
- Robert Hirsch : 1970-1975
- Pierre Alby : 1979-1986
- Jacques Fournier : 1986-1988
- Françis Gutmann : 1988-1993
- Loïk Le Floch-PrigentLoïk Le Floch-PrigentLoik Le Floch-Prigent is a French engineer and manager. He was CEO of Elf Aquitaine between July 1989 and 1993, then president of SNCF from December 1995 to July 1996, when he was indicted in connection with the Elf affair...
: 1993-1996 - Pierre GadonneixPierre GadonneixPierre Gadonneix is a French business man; he was the chairman of the board and CEO of EDF from 2004 to 2009.-Biography:Pierre Gadonneix, who has a Doctorate in Business Economics from the Harvard Business School, is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure du...
: 1996-2004 - Jean-François Cirelli : 2004-2008
Management (2007)
- Jean-François Cirelli – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
- Yves Colliou – Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
- Jean-Marie Dauger – Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
- Stéphane Brimont – Chief Financial Officer.
- Emmanuel Hedde – General Secretary.
- Pierre Clavel – International Sector Chief Officer.
- Henri Ducré - Energie France Sector Chief Officer.
- Philippe Saimpert - Directeur des Ressources Humaines.
- Raphaële Rabatel - Communications Director.
- Jean-Michel Carboni - Deputy Chairman of group's subsidiaries (former Gaz de France's CFO).
- Jean-Paul George - President of Cofathec (former sales manager).
- Bernard LeblancBernard LeBlancBernard LeBlanc is a politician in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 2006 election as the Liberal MLA for the new district of Memramcook-Lakeville-Dieppe....
- President of COGEAC.
Head office
Gaz de France's head office was located in the 17th arrondissement of ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The company took possession of the building, built in the late 1950s, in the early 1960s.
External links
- Official website of Gaz de France (Archive) /
- English website (2007–2008)
- English website (2005–2006)
- English website (2001–2002)
- English website (1998–1999)
- Official website of GDF Suez